1. Technical Field of the invention
The present invention pertains in general to a method and apparatus for remotely upgrading software in a cellular telephone, and more particularly, to remotely upgrade software in a cellular telephone via wireless communication using the Interim Standard-136 protocol.
2. Description of Related Art
Cellular telephones are typically programmed with two pieces of software, a first piece is hard coded in programmable read only memory (PROM) and a second, upgradable piece, is loaded into flash Programmable Read Only Memory (flash-PROM). The upgradable portion contains control software for the cellular telephone. Due to a variety of reasons including the addition of new features and "bug fixes," among others, the control software loaded in the flash-PROM may be periodically upgraded. If the reason for upgrading the control software occurs before the cellular telephone is shipped to a customer, the cellular telephone can be reprogrammed at the factory or at various points along the distribution chain. If, however, the reason for upgrading occurs after the customer has received the cellular telephone a cellular telephone customer will be required to bring the cellular telephone to a vendor for reprogramming. Alternatively, if the change to the software is minor, the cellular telephone customer may choose not to upgrade the cellular telephone. This may affect the quality of speech, reduce the number of functioning features, etc. resulting in an image of poor quality for the particular brand of cellular telephone. It would be advantageous therefore, to devise a method and apparatus to reprogram a cellular telephone remotely using a wireless communication link. Furthermore, it would be advantageous if such a method and apparatus retained the old software until the upgraded software has been tested and verified.